Mande: Sarah Palin Gets It Right
By Mande Wilkes | I admit that title up there is misleading – plenty of people think Sarah Palin not only often gets it right, but also that she can do no wrong.
Me? Well, I think she’s kind of a dimwit. But I call ‘em like I see ‘em, and right now there’s an area in which Palin has hit her stride.
As an anti-abortion emblem, Palin shines. With Trig – her Down’s Syndrome baby – on her hip, her fierce pro-life message resonates as sincere in a world where abortion is but a buzzword. She manages to lift the issue from its perfunctory perch on the Republican platform, transforming into timelessness that which had become an anachronism.
From Politico:
Since she resigned the Alaska governorship. many of her public appearances have been on the anti-abortion circuit — her first speech outside of Alaska this year was at the Vanderburgh County Right to Life fundraising dinner in Evansville, Ind., and in November she headlined a Milwaukee fundraiser for Wisconsin Right to Live. She has fought President Barack Obama’s health care reform in large part on anti-abortion grounds.
But the most striking evidence of her son’s impact has been Palin’s book tour promoting her memoir, “Going Rogue.” As she descends from her tour bus or private jet to meet her fans, 19-month-old Trig has been a conspicuous presence — and generated a huge response. “There’s a lot of people who come through the line to see Trig instead of to see her,” says Jason Recher, a campaign aide who remained close to Palin and is now accompanying her on her book tour.
If abortion is to remain a part of the Republican playbook, it will be because Palin resurrected it.
To be sure, this is a defining moment for the right – the party either sheds or renews its socially conservative image, starting with the abortion issue. Indeed, conservatism stands at a turning point – a crossroads – and Palin is elemental to the outcome.
It’s a conundrum, though, because success by her own standards may mean failure for her party.
To reinvigorate abortion, as she seems to be doing, is to give to Republicans the illusory perception of a socially conservative mandate. The right, grounding its platform as it surely would on that perceived mandate, would alienate itself from the mainstream – unless there materializes a socially conservative populace, which in this culture even Palin can’t corral.
So, Palin may be as toxic as she is roborant – deadly to Republicanism even as she is vital to its pet issue.
Sarah to kill the Republican party? Told ya she’s doing something right …
Comments
By Katherine Jenerette on December 5th, 2009 at 4:28 pm
I had the privilege of meeting and talking to Sarah Palin when she was at Fort Bragg last month. Once you come face-to-face with Sarah you understand that Sarah Palin Gets It Right on lots of things both conservative and constitutional.
Sarah Palin is no kind of a dimwit by any measure. She is the type of person this country needs right now.
That’s all from Fort Dix, NJ today, and tomorrow I’m off to DC
Katherine
By Liberty For Me on December 5th, 2009 at 5:50 pm
I am so tired of abortion being a federal issue.Republicans try to use this to get cheap votes and side step real issues.It should be a state law just like murder..period.Then maybe we could focus on our country not being bought by china.I think when they run the country they will have a whole different take on these kind of things
By James the Foot Soldier on December 5th, 2009 at 6:24 pm
First: Conservatism is in ascendancy through no action of Sarah Palin – it’s the natural swing of the political pendulum when the American people wake up in the middle of the night in a sweat and say to themwelves “what in God’s name were we thinking putting democrats in control”?
President Barak Hussein Obama is THE primary reason behind conservatism’s ascendancy.
Second: with the advent of new media and new tecnologies such as ultrasounds the majority of Americans have turned and now solidly oppose abortion. Case in point, abortion was the ONLY issue in the house healthcare reform bill that was bi-partisan. It’s almost worth supporting the “reform” on that basis alone!
And that is thanks to Congressman Stupak and Congressman Pitts – strong work fellas. Collecting chits at pro-life fundraisers is certainly necessary groundwork for any Republican candidate aspiring to national office – but that hardly equates to the actual battles being waged by folks like Stupak and Pitts.
By 2 cents on December 5th, 2009 at 6:31 pm
You just lost my vote, Katherine.
Great article, Mande. You’ve posted 2 winners this week.
Why not keep it up instead of the other crap to generate hits?
By Catherine on December 5th, 2009 at 7:14 pm
Guess what James. Since you cannot physically participate in sustaining or terminating a pregnancy, this issue is none of your fucking business. When you get pregnant, come talk to me about abortion. Until then shut the fuck up. You are crazy if you believe that most Americans solidly oppose abortion. As a woman, my personal choices about my body are my business. This issue has absolutely no place in the political forum. The only abortions Sarah needs to be concerned with are the ones she could have, and SHOULD HAVE, had. For the record, I solidly oppose socialized healthcare and big government. I am a proponent of gay marriage and I am extremely pro-military. I consider myself conservative, but I will not call myself a republican as long as the GOP continues to beat this dead horse. Government involvement in abortion is archaic and simple minded. Kind of like most christians, err republicans, in this state. Cheap votes is exactly right.
By DEO on December 5th, 2009 at 7:26 pm
Oh that poor, poor PROP baby Trig!
Palin prances on stage with him, poses for 20 seconds and then dumps the poor kid into someone elses arms. PUT THE POOR KID TO SLEEP IN HIS OWN HOME! Stop gawking at him, stop kleig lighting him. Disgusting!
Sarah Palin/Fabio 2012!
By Mab on December 5th, 2009 at 7:50 pm
Thanks DEO — “kleig lighting” nailed it as my thing I learned today that I had never heard of yesterday. You kids are something.
http://wordsmith.org/words/klieg_light.html
By willegge on December 5th, 2009 at 8:14 pm
Katherine thank you for your service to our Nation, and thank you for speaking truth about Sarah Palin. The truth always wins. In the long run good people will always triumph. We need honest good people like you in congress. These haters and reputation assassins are pathetic and they don’t even know it. They wouldn’t know a good person if they fell over them, but that is the day we live in. A great man once told of this day ,he wrote “they will call good evil and evil good. If I lived in your district I would vote for you. Go for the gold.
By James the Foot Soldier on December 5th, 2009 at 8:38 pm
Catherine – Does it make you feel better to erase your drunken indescretions and murder defenseless babies in your womb?
Be a big girl and sterilize yourself so you don’t take the life of a innocent human being.
ORRRRR…maybe you like the only power that “choice” gives you in your pathetic life?
By James the Foot Soldier on December 5th, 2009 at 8:42 pm
Oh, and one more thing Catherine, once you’ve spread your legs and allowed a man to inseminate you the natural result of that insemination is in fact a human being (”pro-choicers” hate to admit that fact).
At that point we are no longer talking about YOUR body. We are talking about the body of a precious human being – one that will do more for societey than your genocidal tendancies.
By TV on December 5th, 2009 at 9:02 pm
oh Kat: And how many elections have Mr and Mrs Jenerette lost? 7 or 8 now. And you’re such loyal people that you run against Henry Brown who gave you a job when you couldn’t get one elsewhere. That’s just one of many reasons why people will not vote for you. You are loyal to no one but yourselves. Instead of being at some Fort playing army pr person why don’t you try volunteering and particopating in you local GOP. You might learn real principles.
By rick on December 5th, 2009 at 9:18 pm
Gotta love it, anything nice brings the Palin haters out in full fury….and Catherine, when you make the decision about your body…don’t ask the daddy to support that decision, ya see, the law says the one that was so inept as to stick his dick in you has obligations to the result. …it ain’t all about your body….there’s a second and third opinion that deserves to be heard in oh, about 18 years.
By Katherine Jenerette on December 5th, 2009 at 9:32 pm
Wow! I didn’t want to help ignite a Saturday night firefight, but, since I am in between missions and packing for the next one in DC, I’m ready for this.
Sarah Palin’s son represents more than most people understand – this Socialized – Obamasized – Federalized medicine is a first step into Triage Medical Care which means some bureaucratic panel in Washington DC will be putting X’s on his eyes before he is born and pulling the plug on Senior citizens when the Health Care Formula Handbook says X’s need to be on Grandfather or Grandmothers eyes. Just who do you think is next?
This thing about Big Government is more than just some fiscal pocketbook matter – it’s about the entire idea of individual self government. So, you can’t claim to play King of the Mountain on keeping your wallet or pocketbook safe but toss baby Trig down the hill at the same time.
(1) Either we respect all human life or we respect no human life. We cannot have it both ways at the same time.
(2) The reason we as a people must have moral judgment and values which are clearly defined is that any action we take can and could be ‘justified’ from some practical standpoint. Our morality forces us to draw a line that we won’t cross. It is only our sense of morality that allows us to be called human and it is only that which separates us from the jungle.
(3) Once the line is moved from the moral high ground the very concept of morality becomes prostituted and becomes a matter of group or power opinions.
For example: if the Titanic were to sink today, using today’s standards of morality and ethics – who would get to climb into the lifeboats first and who would be expected to go down with the ship? I’m not sure that today’s society or medical community would stand back and save the women and children…
Any people who move from the position of protecting human life from its beginning to its end becomes just another part of the immoral mob – no better with any opinion – no worse without one. Just a mob.
Bottom Line: In the end, the line that we draw on the argument of individual human life will become the line that is drawn to define individual human rights.
That’s all for now – Katherine
P.S.1 – Dear 2 cents: I expected when I took a position on no income taxes I would lose some votes and I expected when I took a position to oppose abortion I would lose some votes – so to lose some votes over my comments on Sarah Palin isn’t a surprise. That’s the name of this thing called politics. I don’t just call it as I see it – I live it and walk it like I say it.
P.S.2 – Dear willegge: Thanks.
P.S.3 – Dear James the Foot Soldier: Target comments – Hit Hard then Hit again!
By James the Foot Soldier on December 5th, 2009 at 9:53 pm
Here’s a post from “Catherine” on December 2:
Just a Good ole boy,
haven’t you ever heard the expression, “Show me a beautiful woman, and I’ll show you a man who is sick of fucking her”? Case in point…
And here’s a tip for the ladies- Being married and giving blow jobs are NOT mutually exclusive. In fact, the decline in BJ frequency is inversely proportional to your chances of being cheated on. Reinstate the BJs, ladies!!! Otherwise, you get what you deserve.
“Catherine” posing as a girl?
Ding.
“Catherine” – go to your gay/lesbo/transgender support group and go fuck yourself in the ass in front of all your friends.
Merry Christmas.
By Liberty For Me on December 5th, 2009 at 11:30 pm
James the Foot Soldier ….I think the premises of the post is that if you make this a federal issue (which is really unconstitutional),you alienate some people and weaken the conservative message.We need to be worrying about our freedom and the sustainability of our Republic.Preaching about abortion and social issues is not in our best interest.These are the kinds of things that should be taught in our homes and churches…and decided by state governments.I know I dont need some idiot in Washington to tell me what is right or wrong.Do you?I don’t get the whole Palin thing and think it is being heavily propped up by the RNC.I don’t think she will be anywhere in sight in 2012
By Proud American and Carolinian and I Know The Irony in Teabaggers Protesting Violations of Property Rights on December 5th, 2009 at 11:56 pm
If Katherine Jenerette and her misinformed, intellectually vapid, barely literate (which is why I understand she is of course a strict constructionist)brand of conservatism actually takes the South Carolina 1st I will never return to my home county after my youngest sister graduates high school. Thats a promise. Ms. Jenerette, Do you understand what ’strict constructionism’ would actually entail? Please at this point indulge us with your justification of policies based upon constitutional concerns? Take amendments one through ten, I presume of course that your familiar with them due to your education in U.S. History…its not like I’m asking for anything hard. 1-10 if strict interpretation is the way to go, than this should be rather easy.
Also,What pray tell does she think we need more of in America which Sarah Palin would provide? What exactly does she get right? Do we need more women claiming that motherhood is one of their strongest preparations for being President who then think that their performance in that arena is ‘out of bounds’ and the result of liberal bias? Please, not that when Dems talk about their families, its anecdotal and emotional – not as a bullet point on a startlingly short resume. This is the reason that their families are off limits, because thats where they place them.
By Proud American and Carolinian and I Know The Irony in Teabaggers Protesting Violations of Property Rights on December 6th, 2009 at 12:14 am
Nevermind. I thought you were a serious candidate. A google search later and I realized, nothing to worry about. South Cack I’ll Never Leave You Baby!
By Aquinas on December 6th, 2009 at 12:43 am
Liberty For Me: If abortion is only a state issue, then why was slavery taken up on the federal level? Of all the states that claimed the right to do their own thing, SC certainly carried its own water on that issue. And thank God that there were people who stood for the truth and made it a federal issue.
The one thing that will weaken the conservative message the most is to not stand up for the truth. If the our weakest and most vulnerable citizens cannot be protected and given the most basic right of all – the right to life – then every other right that gets propped up as part of any platform is useless. People are going to be alienated over any contentious issue. The real question is, what is the right thing, not the expedient thing to do? Nowhere is that question more relevant than when it comes to abortion. Sarah Palin brings out the best and worst in people because she doesn’t just talk the talk. She lives the message, and is a sort of mirror to all who are forced to confront what is most core and basic about being a human: we have the power to give life and take it away. And what we decide to do with that freedom tells more about the kind of person we’ve allowed ourselves to become than anything else.
Catherine, I will sincerely keep you in my prayers.
By LIstenUp on December 6th, 2009 at 12:48 am
To Mande, I think it may be the one thing she can speak clearly on, her son. Don’t know enough about her to know if there are other issues. But props to you for the use of “roborant.” Most of the posters on this board, and most these days, probably scratched their heads thinking, “Palin’s an android for the movement?”
Yeah, to the nasty little creep above, the demonizing every woman who supports abortion as a whore who uses abortion as a contraceptive is one of the reasons why you have some people who might be more actively anti-abortion sitting on the sidelines. That and the guys gunning abortion doctors down in cold blood.
By 2 cents on December 6th, 2009 at 12:59 am
Katherine, James the Ass Soldier, and other Palin sheep:
Couple of things I’d like to see you do:
1) The next time an 11, 12 yr. old or teen gets pregnant by rape or incest and can’t support the baby, YOU adopt it or support it through welfare.
2) If a child is born into a poor family, or family who cannot support it, YOU adopt or support it through welfare.
3) When social diseases are spread through lack of protection (condoms) or unwanted babies are born because idiots like you don’t believe in sex ed.(you know, every parent does teach their kids about such, as well as our churches and government, wink, wink), YOU adopt or support them.
And yeah, I’m posting at 12:40 a.m. in the morning, my ass is on a 2nd shift schedule, so spare me that smart-ass remark.
There is no room in this society anymore for extreme right or left wingnuts. No issue is cut and dry. None. Not even this.
To whomever wrote about China, they limit the # of kids people can have and if more than that are born, they get strapped in a chair and die of starvation. Idiot.
In closing, since you care so much about kids and value all life, send some damned money to Iraq & Afghanistan where the U.S. has been bombing the shit out of civilians for how many years now. Adopt some of the orphans there. Adopt or support the ones in China. But let me guess, the sand niggers’ kids and lives or the slant-eyes just aren’t as valuable as American ones, huh? That’s how you people think. It’s downright frightening.
When was the last time you took in an unwanted child? I’m not asking when was the last time you donated (threw money at) the problem, but actually took in an unwanted child?
By 2 cents on December 6th, 2009 at 1:20 am
P.S. James the Ass Soldier,
Didn’t read you post from 9:53. Just did. The 1st was bad enough. You’re a sick creep who shouldn’t discuss women or children on any subject. Scary nasty jerkwad.
By A DORMAN on December 6th, 2009 at 2:40 am
AMEN TO 2 CENTS!!!
By Liberty For Me on December 6th, 2009 at 6:51 am
By Aquinas….You start off a post with a failed premise.Because Lincoln started bringing things to a Federal level that he had no right to do..You somehow see that as a right from then on to do more illegal things??Slavery was wrong,but should have been decided on,one government at a time.The war wasn’t fought over slavery and lets not go there.The point is that whether abortion is right or wrong it should not be a federal law.People ,I guess you too ,cant wrap your minds around how illegal our government is.Do you need someone in DC to tell you murder is wrong??…That’s what you want??..But I bet you don’t want them telling you not to have a Christmas tree or mention Jesus in Scholl or to teach kids atheism…You cant have it both ways and that’s what has messed up this country.If you want to preach and control every body across the Nation
they will do that back to you.Stick to controlling what is closest to you and you will have a world much more the way you want it.With Liberty for all
By 2 cents on December 6th, 2009 at 12:16 pm
Liberty,
As much as I wonder exactly what government is for, all I can say is “Lord of the Flies”. Any group, any nation, will have leaders. It seems to be as common to humanity as the need for food and water, but the book explains it better than I ever could.
With regard to what issues are taken up by government, some should be.
All I can say is that if I were ever enslaved or pregnant because of rape or incest at 12 years old, or starving to death, I would hope that people would not sit back and wait on states or anyone else to debate the issue or act only when it would benefit someone financially or otherwise. I would hope that someone would find it important enough to come to my aid as soon as possible.
I don’t think many people are fooled by our government anymore and realize they are essentially corrupt to the bone.
I will say that while some will argue about Christmas trees or other such nonsense, thank goodness there are folks addressing the real issues. They tend to be the tolerate ones, the ones who firmly believe and practice, “as long as it harms none, do what you will”.
Palin is an extremist and an idealist who will indeed push her beliefs down the throats of anyone she has power over. Most importantly, she does not need to be using her son as a tool of influence. If I respect anything about Obama it is that you rarely see his kids in the spotlight. Palin stated in her church that the pipeline was the will of God. Look it up. That’s should be enough for anyone to oppose her. People argued the same thing about slavery. It was the will of God. She has no place in politics. No extremist does.
By Rowland on December 6th, 2009 at 1:27 pm
So, did Palin really give birth to Trig (whose story is already painfully convoluted), or is Bristol really the mother ? Who is going to go on the record here?
This is, after all, the thread of this collection of comments.
By Mab on December 6th, 2009 at 5:21 pm
“James the Ass Soldier”
Now that’s funny. Congrats on your promotion, Jamesy! And thank you for your service. And also to Katherine. With a K.
By Liberty For Me on December 6th, 2009 at 7:20 pm
Two cents….First off,the constitution pretty much explains what the role of government is…It is a perfectly thought out frame of freedom….You talk as if someone is in favor of anarchy.Nobody in this thread had mentioned that ,so the lord of the flies thing ,I really don’t get..anarchy just leads to an oligarchy …
Your quote..”All I can say is that if I were ever enslaved or pregnant because of rape or incest at 12 years old, or starving to death, I would hope that people would not sit back and wait on states or anyone else to debate the issue or act only when it would benefit someone financially or otherwise. I would hope that someone would find it important enough to come to my aid as soon as possible”……What does any law have to do with someone helping you if you are raped or starving??Is there a law about people not helping each other I don’t know about??… Your whole thought seems really unfocused and confusing.
As far as the abortion issue being black and white, it is hardly that.Is a baby not a person 1 minute before its born??…If it is, dosent it have the same rights as you??….This is complicated and why this should have nothing to do with the federal government.
By 2 cents on December 6th, 2009 at 9:41 pm
Good enough, Liberty. Just don’t read my posts if you can’t comprehend them.
But let’s do it your way. Make abortion illegal. When that happens, I don’t expect to see anymore unwanted, abused, or neglected children. I say make a law that anti-abortionists must adopt or support these kids. Make the churches support and adopt them instead of having their own.
I won’t be surprised when practically none of the anti-abortionists or holy rollers do just the opposite.
If anti-abortionists, the churches, and the government would do what they love to preach so much about, we would not have the horrible statistics of child abuse and neglect that we do.
Thanks for you and yours keeping hypocrisy so alive and well.
By James the Foot Soldier on December 6th, 2009 at 10:51 pm
2 pennies – while you and catherine are at your gay/lesbo/transgender support group meeting perhaps y’all can get your strap-on heads together and discuss the abortion debate in terms that impact the 99.9% of babies that are murdered that aren’t related to rape/incest.
Care to try again?
By James the Foot Soldier on December 6th, 2009 at 11:01 pm
liberty for me:
Interesting that you would post this as an individual freedom issue. May I remind you that life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness are the foundation of this nation. Denying life to an innocent baby makes liberty and the pursuit kind of meaningless now doesn’t it?
This isn’t an issue above anyone (that has a conscience) pay grade: terminating a human life is wrong. Doing it under the guise of “healthcare” is akin to the medice practiced by Dr. Mengela.
By Liberty For Me on December 7th, 2009 at 8:56 am
Two cent and foot soldier….I purposed the argument why it isn’t black and white.This is a subject that both sides have a point and both sides have no point.There is no point whatsoever for this to be a federal law.I never said anywhere that I was for or against abortion.Two cents I think shows the usual liberal anger with knee jerk assumptions and name calling.Footsoldiier your arguments might go better too without the silly lesbian,etc nastiness.Personally…I think life of course Starts at conception(because it does)…But I don’t believe it is life as a viable human…so the conundrum will always exist…But for sure when it is a viable life that could live on its own, it is a human life…self explanatory…….So if a woman was pushed and she fell in her first trimester and the baby or embryo dies is it manslaughter or murder??…in her third trimester ready to be born is it murder?? Is there a difference?? my question to both of you??
By dirtbogger on December 7th, 2009 at 9:10 am
I am opposed to abortion but I am also opposed to the federal government policing the issue. I believe that 2 cents is missing the point that Liberty is making. He has been brain washed by media, and public education into beleiveing that it is the governments responsibility to pass laws and enforce them. They should not be deciding anything like this, because when we give the government the right to decide and police one issue, they get the power to police us on other issues thus taking away freedom inch by inch. Its time, way past time to start pushing back. Some issues are better left for God to decide. Abortion should be decided between the mother, the doctor, the grandparrents and God!
By Liberty For Me on December 7th, 2009 at 10:54 am
Dirtbogger…Thank you for making me feel that there are still people who dont carry emotions on thir skin and think through their cool-aid asses.
You are the closest to what I think is the right answer…but still leaves us to answer when is it murder??…when its head is out?? a week before birth?…The people and states would need to decide something on this…at what point do you have a right to life and the right to liberty?
By dirtbogger on December 7th, 2009 at 12:48 pm
I don’t really think state or federal government should be deciding this , maybe local government should I dont know . You make a great point about partial birth, but if knew that I was going to be born into a life of pain or missery I would want to be abborted. I do think that it should not cost so much to adopt a child in the us, maybe that is one avenue that can be taken. The only thing that I know for certian is the federal government should not be included in the decision making process.
By James the Foot Soldier on December 7th, 2009 at 11:32 pm
Liberty – the lesbo bit was entirely driven because “catherine” has a female post name but is obviously a dude. Reference “her” post that I included above.
The “nastiness” is befitting the subject matter, especially as “catherine” framed the debate. My INITIAL post on this subject was applauding the bi-partisan consensus reached by the US House of Representatives (we do live in a representative republic afterall) to place restritctions on abortion “healthcare” in the obamacare boondoggle.
That struck a nerve with “catherine” and all in the pro-abortion gay/lesbo/transgender community.
I’ll stand by my postings on the public square to fight for the liberty of those babies that have no voice and are unable to wage the battle themselves. Dodging scalpels aimed for the the base of their skull and the ensuing suction of all cranial matter in their mother’s womb is not a fight those will survive.
The TRUE heatlhcare reform battle is being waged over this barbaric procedure. It’s been a brilliant skrimish after 3 decades of virtual silence from the “conservative” side of the aisle.
The rabid pro-abortionists are besides themselves at the audacity of a solid block of democrats in the US House of Representatives that were able to attach the restrictions to the obamacare legislation; restrictions more stringent than the Hyde ammendments that “conservatives” like to cloak themsleves with in order to receive pro-life dollars.
Representatives Stupak deserves Libertarian of the Year award for that amendment alone.
By Aquinas on December 7th, 2009 at 11:43 pm
There are some good arguments going on here; one of the reasons I enjoy visiting this site. It’s also good when folks don’t resort to ad hominen attacks, but try to see where others are coming from.
Liberty For Me and dirtbogger – I “get” what you’re saying about the government not getting involved with this issue. But if the final question is, as you put it dirtbogger, that abortion “should be decided between the mother, the doctor, the grandparrents and God!”, who speaks for the child? If it truly is another human (and any doctor worth their salt will tell you that a unique human life exits from the moment of conception; in fact, the word fetus is Latin for “young one”), then when do the rights of this young one begin? And who “bestows” those rights, by the way? The mother? The doctor? If a person can bestow another’s rights, then they can also take them away. Might will inevitably make right in every case. If not another person, then who? Or are rights automatically conferred on someone when they become viable, as you mentioned Liberty? Does that viability spontaneously morph while the child is traveling through the birth canal? If the baby is born premature and needs machines to assist it to grow strong enough to function on its own, do its rights suddenly appear when it is deemed viable once the machines are unhooked? These are all questions that each of us must face. They only become difficult when we try to skirt around the most basic of all issues, namely the objective truth about human personhood. Or as Dr. Peter Kreeft put it: “If we believe that objective truth does not exist or cannot be known, we shall cease to fight for it with words and begin to fight for domination over each other, replacing reason and justice and morality with power — as is done in abortion clinics to unborn children.”
I will let Dr. Kreeft wrap up the discussion for now in his argument for the personhood of the fetus:
“First, the personhood of the fetus is clearly the crucial issue for abortion, for if the fetus is not a person, abortion is not the deliberate killing of an innocent person: if it is, it is. All other aspects of the abortion controversy are relative to this one; e.g., women have rights — over their own bodies but not over other persons’ bodies. The law must respect a “right to privacy” but killing other persons is not a private but a public deed. Persons have a “right to life” but non-persons (e.g., cells, tissues, organs, and animals) do not.
“Second, abortion is a crucial issue for medical ethics because the right to life is the fundamental right. If I am not living I can have no other rights. Corpses have no rights. The two sides on this issue are more intransigently opposed to each other than on any other issue — rightly so, for if pro-lifers are right, then abortion is murder, and if pro-choicers are right, then pro-lifers are fanatic, intolerant and repressive about nothing. We must intolerantly kill both intolerance and killing.
“Third, medical ethics is crucial for our civilization, for our lives are more closely touched here than by any economic, political, or military issue. For instance, artificial immortality would change mankind more radically than a nuclear war, and surrogate motherhood, which brings us to Brave New World, is a more radical development than totalitarian dictatorship, which brings us only to 1984.
“…All these issues are involved in abortion, but I shall argue only one: Is the fetus a person? The case for pro-life’s affirmative answer is well-known, and so are the biological facts which constitute its simplest and strongest evidence, especially the genetic identity and individuality of the unborn child from the moment of conception. How does the pro-choice position argue against this case?”
By 2 cents on December 7th, 2009 at 11:44 pm
James,
Is it really 99.9%? How would you know that? It would require you knowing the facts behind every single abortion. I believe birth control is the answer to that, as well as sex education. Parents talking to their kids about sex. Better and stronger laws for child abuse and rape.
Liberty,
Completely different issue, and the answer is murder regardless, in my opinion. The crime there is violence against another person, 2 actually.
Let me be clear. If everyone planned their pregnancies, teens did not get pregnant, rape did not exist, nor did child sexual abuse and incest, then there would be no need for abortion. We do not live in that kind of reality. I hope someday we do.
I have a few questions for you, Liberty. What if a mother’s life is threatened by giving birth? She should be able to choose abortion instead of probable death?
Is a parent who chooses for their child who has cancer, for example, committing murder if they refuse no further treatment for their child? Is a Jehovah witness committing murder if they deny certain medical treatment for their child?
What if a 12-year-old raped by her father is pregnant but her mother says no to abortion? Should the government step in concerning that situation?
By James the Foot Soldier on December 8th, 2009 at 3:45 pm
2 pennies – framing the barbaric act on the basis of the minute portion of abortions performed due to rape/incest is the tired ploy of the gay/lesbian transgender pro-abortionists – studies and statistics consistently show that pregnancies due to rape and incest are rare. According to the Guttmacher Institute 1% are due to rape and incest
Would you care to frame the issue out of the only arena the gay/lesbia/transgender pro-abortionists are comfortable amd into the arean where the overwhelming number of choices/murders that are committed upon an innocent baby in fact occur?
Kind of hard to justify the murder of MILLIONS of innocent babies on the basis that they require food amd poop? But please, we all anxiously await your attempt.
By Raymond A. Bruno on December 9th, 2009 at 12:10 am
You have the nerve to call Sarah Palin a NITWIT?
Such Jealousy. You couldn’t shine her shoes.
By Nathan on December 11th, 2009 at 5:39 am
WOW, these ubiquitous Sara hating posters must take medication that wears off at the same time…..I travel quite extensively and generally run into people that love her or at worst are apathetic. The negative posters must all still be in basements or in facilities getting much needed help.
I don’t think 2 cents is too stupid to grasp the adoption issue (that millions of people are waiting to adopt) or that the person getting an abortion is not the one getting aborted. It’s also clear that they don’t care about rape or (rape from incest or two consenting relatives substantiate a valid abortion?) If exceptions were made for those these people’s support for the unborn would not increase a bit. I’d be surprised if they even lied that it would. It’s fairly clear that the vile they spew has much deeper roots than just these amazing women like Sara and Katherine.
Best of all what we are seeing is a rise in the support for Sara and a decline in Obama. Even the LA times did a recent article on how there approval rating are 1 point apart…..
By Bryan on December 11th, 2009 at 5:47 am
Nothing impresses me more about Sara than how she can keep from hating and engaging with so many twisted megalomanic haters. Granted they are largely confined to just on-line posters and self pretentious media elitists but still. Hillary looses a primary and cries. I liked Sara well enough till I saw how she stood up to the haters and not let it bring her down. That’s when my respect for her rose to admiration. Best of luck to Sara and her family.
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